Over the past year, the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has announced groups of artists who have been commissioned to create site-specific installations for the center’s 19-acre campus. The most recent cohort includes Mark Bradford, Tyanna J. Buie, Jay Heikes, Carrie Mae Weems, and the duo Sam Kirk + Dorian.
So far, over two dozen artists have been tapped to contribute work to the OPC’s public indoor and outdoor spaces. Artists already on board include Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer, Spencer Finch, Maya Lin, Julie Mehretu, and Theaster Gates.
“From its conception, the Obama Presidential Center has placed the arts at its core, integrating creativity into every facet of the campus experience,” Louise Bernard, co-leader (with Virginia Shore) of the OPC’s art program, told ARTnews.
After many delays, the center is scheduled to open in June 2026. It will include a presidential library and a museum focused on Obama’s administration, a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, fruit and vegetable gardens, a playground, and an athletic center. The campus is designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.
The newly announced commissions include The City of Broad Shoulders, a wall piece by Mark Bradford, an artist known for his layered, abstract collages. His OPC installation will span three stories in the atrium of the museum building, which will feature several floors of temporary exhibition space and a café.
Chicago native Tyanna J. Buie’s installation will feature screenprinted imagery about hope, change, and the power of civic participation, all driving forces behind Obama’s messaging and political success. Buie was inspired by her involvement with Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign. Be the Change! will be in the OPC’s Forum building, which will also be home to Theaster Gates’s installation celebrating the archives of Ebony and Jet magazines.
Carrie Mae Weems’s installation will be made up of a photo collage on metallic paper and an accompanying jazz-inflected sound component. Jay Heikes will install bronze stars on an exterior wall. And Sam Kirk and Dorian Sylvain are designing a mural on a wall of the OPC’s athletic center that will specifically honor the South Side’s cultural legacy.
Barack and Michelle Obama have been “deeply involved” in the process, Shore told ARTnews, making the final confirmation for each commission. “The common denominator among all artists is that they share an alignment with the Obamas’ values and vision for the Center: that culture can be a catalyst for dialogue, empathy, and collective empowerment.”
